Student group collects 163 items in mitten drive

Students in the before and after school program and James McQueen Public School collected 163 pairs of socks and mittens for the Centre Wellington Food Bank this winter.

“It’s important for them to reach out into their community, to help out and I think they’re a really compassionate group that like to think about other people, not always ... themselves,” said Olivia Schwass of the Community Resource Centre program.

Last year the program, which consists of students aged four to nine, raised money for the Guelph Humane Society through an art show.

“Originally we had talked about getting stuff for ourselves and then they decided they wanted to give it all away,” Schwass said.

“I think that really showed me ... that these guys are pretty selfless and they do think about other people and they like to have that positive impact.”

This year, around Valentine’s Day, the students agreed to run a sock and mitten drive.

“We collected them for the people that don’t have money who were really cold during the winter, because we were really cold ... when we had to go outside,” Schwass said.

“Then we started thinking about the people who don’t have enough money to buy their own socks or their own mittens so then we decided we were going to do a mitten drive.”

It started out with each of the 63 participants bringing in a pair of socks or mittens, but soon the whole school was involved, collecting 163 pairs.

When the group delivered the items, Schwass said Centre Wellington Food Bank officials were very appreciative.

Students Cody Williams, 6, Ava Mannerow, 7, and Sophie Perry, 7, said they all felt good about the donation.

“Hi everybody, do more things,” Mannerow said.

Perry added, “Help people who need stuff.”